Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Baker Hughes has a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" from 22 brokerages, with 18 buy ratings and an average 1-year price target of about $69.14.
• Several firms recently raised their price targets on the stock, including TD Cowen, Piper Sandler, Jefferies, and Stifel Nicolaus, reflecting continued optimism around Baker Hughes.
• The company beat quarterly earnings per share estimates by reporting $0.58 EPS versus $0.49 expected, and it also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, yielding about 1.5% annually.

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.1364.

BKR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Johnson Rice initiated coverage on Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total transaction of $326,751.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BKR. EFG International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 344.1% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of Baker Hughes stock opened at $63.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $62.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Baker Hughes has a 12 month low of $37.38 and a 12 month high of $70.41. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $64.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.94.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.The company had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.39%.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes is an energy technology company that provides a broad portfolio of products, services and digital solutions for the oil and gas and industrial markets. Its offerings span oilfield services and equipment — including drilling, evaluation, completion and production technologies — as well as turbomachinery, compressors and related process equipment used in midstream and downstream operations. The company also supplies aftermarket services, field support and integrated solutions designed to improve asset performance and uptime across the energy value chain.

The firm's roots trace back to the merger of Baker International and Hughes Tool Company, and more recently it combined with GE's oil and gas business in 2017 to form Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE); subsequent changes in ownership restored Baker Hughes as an independent publicly traded company.

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